16,000 L.A. guns to be crushed today, turned into steel rebar

Officials today will destroy 16,000 guns confiscated from criminals and collected from numerous gun buy-back programs across L.A. County.

Law enforcement agencies have attempted to get guns off the street by allowing people to turn them in for gift cards. 

Back in March, an LAPD gun-buyback program that traded gift cards for firearms netted nearly 1,700 weapons, including 40 assault-style weapons and a rifle with a grenade launcher. 

The grenade launcher AR-15 rifle, which did not have a grenade in it, was delivered to the Los Angeles Police Department's Topanga station over the weekend as officers across the city distributed gift cards in exchange for handguns, rifles and shotguns. The anonymous drop-off program netted AR-15s, Uzis and AK-47s. 

Sheriff Lee Baca will be on hand in Rancho Cucamonga to watch the guns being crushed. They will be recycled into steel rebar.

-- Shelby Grad

Comments

[bolivar shazznasty]

Gather around all you wingnuts and picket the location..Wasting guns like that must be a mortal sin..

[Otto]

I sincerely doubt it was a real grenade launcher, or it was hype over one. On the AR/M16 a grenade launcher is simply the flash hider plus a retaining spring. Or it could have been a flare launcher which the uninformed (i..e the police) could mistake for a n M203 grenade launcher

[Pablo]

Let's assume that many of these guns are cheap junk, but also assume that a few are collectors items. At an average value of $500 each, that's $8,000,000 in guns they're about to destroy. Couldn't we better use that money for something other than a photo opportunity?

[Taggart]

And not a single gun came from a criminal, nor will this dog and pony show do anything to prevent a single crime. It's as if the sheriff collected all the old broken cell phones that people have in their closets and junk drawers and claimed that it was going to result in a decrease in prank phone calls. Complete baloney.

[David]

For a place that is broke you sure are throwing a lot of money away today.

[Get Real]

Guns are a CONSTITUTIONAL right.

Whose money are they using to buy back these guns? Yours and mine. Destroying these guns only makes other guns more valuable. Your job is to enforce the law, not to sanctimoniously destroy legal property that you buy with our money while we pay your salary.

Guns aren't the problem. Unconstitutional, demagogue, thief politicians and sheriffs are the problem.

[Major Variola (ret)]

What a complete waste. This is
about 16000 x $300 or four
million dollars lost to the city.

Guns owned by non-felons
are good for the populace.

[bditman]

The availability of guns for use by criminals is stunning. Every single legitimate gun owner should have gun safety first and foremost on his or her mind. The wholesale supply of murder weapons - even to kids in Junior High School - is a real threat to the safety and well being of everyone. How a legitimate, safety conscious gun owner could tolerate this status quo is unfathomable - are you listening NRA?

[DAK]

Quote: Back in March, an LAPD gun-buyback program that traded gift cards for firearms netted nearly 1,700 weapons, including 40 assault-style weapons and a rifle with a grenade launcher.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Oooohhhhhhhh.... Scary stuff, huh? (**rolls eyes**)

[Ray]

I'm guessing all the AR-15 and AK's were ether broken and beyond repair or stolen from someone... and the one with the grenade launcher on... I'm not sure, that one had to of been stolen or a fake because how many ppl just gonna hand over a $1K+ launcher for some meager gift card??? I agree with the earlier comment, this is just a bogus stunt by the police to make the citizens feel as tho many guns are now off the street... good try, but sadly criminals will always have guns and can get more.

[David]

@bolivar - the wingnuts are the people like you who swallow this treacle. It's not just the $8M that Pablo estimates the guns are worth. What about the countless hours of police time and the millions spent on buyback programs that accomplish nothing? Sheriff Baca ought to have to pay for this program from his campaign funds.

[jtpost]

Taggart: I know you're referring to buyback programs (in writing here, "not a single gun came from a criminal"), but this was not a buyback program alone. The very first line of the story says: "Officials today will destroy 16,000 guns confiscated from criminals and collected from numerous . . . " Try actually reading the story before presenting a conclusion that is false.

[Get Real]

Read the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution. But further, owning guns is an unalienable right.

Whose money are they using to buy back these guns from the non-criminals?
Yours and mine.

Whose money pays Baca's salary while he sanctimoniously demagogues and photo-ops?
Yours and mine.

What a waste.

If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns.

[Tito]

good riddance. get rid of all them. guns are one of the BIGGEST problems in this country. the right to bear arms should be rescinded.

[A Scanner Darkly]

Right, Palblo. AAI Corporation (major arms dealer) could broker a deal to sell them to some banana republic and then the CIA could force instability and the U.S. could invade. Afterall, the war is meant to be continuous

[M GARRINGER]

What a GREAT program! What Taggart fails to realize is these
guns are gone forever, so the chance of someone using them in
a crime 20 or 30 years from now is ZERO.
L.A. County Sherriffs Dept. derserves all the support it can get.

[eluu]

Such a waste .... (mostly) perfectly good firearms that could be used to shoot back at the bad guys (that would be criminals for you bleedin' hearts), who by the way, didn't turn any of their firearms in!
More unarmed citizens = good for the bad guys ... simple as that.

[RH]

Just another dog and pony show by the sheriff. "Hey, lets make a big deal out of destroying these inanimate objects all the while we will ignore the trash that we took them from". Sound about right? Want to crush 16,000 evil culprits and actually have an impact on crime, start with the thugs on the street but then that simply wouldn't be the LA way now would it? Couldn't be crushing all the "homies" and gang bangers cause that would be mean spirited and hateful. relish in the farce LA! No one deserves it more than you.

[H Hilborn]

Time and energy and money wasted, which could be better used finding and incarcerating criminals.

[Robert]

There has to be some amount of guns here that were stolen and that are not being returned to the legal owners regardless of the ability to locate them through police reports.

There never is any accountabiliy on what has be recovered and matching up with the legal owners. I guess everyone believes all the guns are contraband and don't have to be treated as other private property.

I agree that there could be some very large amount of money recovered for the many guns that do have a significant value but it's not poitically correct, even with today's budgetary concerns.

[nugget]

There are too many guns out on the street,

[Jerm]

Sure the AR's AK's and UZI's are getting destroyed, They just added those ones to there collection. Destroyed all the cheap ones.

[H. Craig Bradley]

GUNS BELONG AT HOME

Guns confiscated from convicted felons is acceptable, as they are prohibited by law from owning them. However, private citizens could sell their guns to a private party (ad in craig's list.com) and probably get more money for most firearms in good condition. So, I assume these guns were either illegal or not serviceable (junk) to begin with.

[kent]

Amnesty for turning in guns that most likely weapons that have been either used in the act of a felony, are stolen, CALI Illegal guns, or where turned in by some "friend" or relative who does not share the love of guns as the actual owner.

[MichaelDean]

Sure glad I left LA and moved to Wyoming.

Gotta run. Meeting a friend to go out to state land and shoot our battle rifles.